Antidote for the Rest of the Week

Crystal Cove State Park is the place for escape when two-legged and four-wheeled congestion has you feeling stifled in suburbia.

From one of its panoramic bluffs, it’s easy to imagine Joan Irvine Smith, the 67-year-old art patron and philanthropist, as a child riding her horse with her grandfather James Irvine II across the lush back country of a baby Orange County.

The pair, simpatico in their love of the land, would ride for hours, surveying their empire that once stretched across one-fourth of the county, from tide pools to the San Bernardino County line.

In the 1860s, Smith’s great-grandfather James Irvine and three partners paid $18,000 for more than 100,000 acres to raise sheep and sell wool. Irvine bought out his shortsighted partners in 1876, 13 years before Orange County incorporated.

The Irvines’ continuous, glorious, undeveloped greenbelt is history, but 30 square miles of it remain as the Open Space Reserve. A shining part is Crystal Cove State Park, with 2,800 acres of grass, riparian woodland and coastal sage and scrub. Underwater are 1,140 more park acres.

My favorite of all of this is El Moro Canyon, with its seesaw trails shaded by oaks and sycamores in the San Joaquin Hills.

More Moro

On most weekends, the parking lot at El Moro Canyon (8471 E. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach; [949] 494-3539; open 6 a.m.-sunset daily) is full of SUVs topped with bike racks, but hikers shouldn’t let the spandex trailblazers push them to the side. With 17 miles of crisscrossing trails, there’s room for everyone--even a horse or two.

Supervising Ranger Michael Eaton, who has been stationed at the park since the state opened it in 1979 after buying it from the Irvine Co. for $32 million, says there are three types of hobbyists who visit: mountain bikers, hikers and, at “a distant third,” equestrians.

From the parking lot, a half-mile steady incline on No Dogs Trail leads you to a fork in the road. Pause along the way to appreciate the grand views of the canyon and the Pacific, then consider your next move.

If you take the high road, you’ll go four miles inland along No Name Ridge and Deer Canyon trails before a fence detours you to the bottom of the canyon via Fence Line and Missing Link trails. (Elevations range from sea level to 1,000 feet.) You can continue on to Moro Ridge before looping back to the parking lot.

If you turn right at the fork, you’ll reach the bottom of the canyon faster via the West Cut Across (or what the bikers call “Mach One”). You can drop into the canyon and onto Elevator and Slow ‘n’ Easy trails, or head west back to civilization--the quaint El Moro Village mobile home park.

Refueling

There’s a general rule in hiking: You must eat. If you prefer to granola-up on the trail, there are plenty of grassy cubbyholes to lay a blanket. If you require hard surfaces, there are eight picnic tables in the meadow adjacent to park headquarters near the parking lot.

If you don’t want to pack a lunch, you can buy a boxed one beforehand at Caffe Panini (540 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach; [949] 494-0097; open 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily with extended summer hours).

General Manager Betsy Keesler has lunch boxes that would please Yogi Bear. They’re brimming with a hearty sandwich, side salad and a sweet.

Still in back-to-nature mode? Try to resist the rich chocolate shaped like a carrot ($4), lop-eared bunny ($6.50), hen basket ($4.25) or chick ($3.75).

Desserts are created by Diane Weber, who trained at Ecole Lenotre in France and gained local fame as the creator of chocolate indulgences at the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach. She makes shortbreads for every occasion, and through Sunday she’s offering an Easter Morning Breakfast Basket filled with hot cross buns, candied orange brioche and a minimuffin ($35).

If your trek has earned you a gut-busting meal, drive seven miles south on Coast Highway to the Coyote Grill (31621 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach; [949] 499-4033; open 7 a.m-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday). Whopping steak burritos ($9.95) and chicken enchilada meals ($8.50) deliver a taste of Baja that’s served on a patio overlooking isolated Tablerock Beach.

The closest pick-me-up place to the park is the landmark Shake Shack (7408 E. Coast Highway; [949] 497-9666. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday), about half a mile north of El Moro Canyon’s parking lot. Sandwiches, hamburgers and fruit smoothies are on the menu, but the bright yellow beach stand made its name with its date shake ($3).

*

Janet Eastman can be reached at (714) 966-7883 or by e-mail at janet.eastman@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: Take Coast Highway between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach to the “School-State Park” stoplight. Follow signs to El Moro Canyon parking lot.

PARK DON’Ts: You may bring your horse, but dogs aren’t allowed.

For romantics who envision a champagne toast at sunset, make that nonalcoholic bubbly. No alcohol allowed.

Don’t disturb, remove or rearrange plants, animals or the geological or archeological features.

Don’t even think about hunting or packing a gun.

There’s no smoking or building fires. The entire inland section of the park burned during the October 1993 Laguna Beach fires. Ranger Eaton says the area has “recovered nicely.”

STAY OVER: There are 32 “environmental” campsites, which means you take out what you bring in. You should pack light for another reason: These primitive sites are a three-mile uphill hike from the parking lot. Reservations are not required, but you must register at headquarters. $7-$11 a night.

Crystal Cove State Park

1. Crystal Cove State Park, E. Coast Highway (949) 494-3539

2. Shake Shack, 7408 E. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 497-9666

3. Caffe Panini, 540 S. Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, (949) 494-0097 (3 miles south of park)

4. Coyote Grill, 31621 Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, (949) 499-4033 (7 miles south of park)